Import Safety Action Plan Issued

After a year spiked with incidents of contaminated food and dangerous Chinese-made toys entering the U.S. marketplace, the Bush administration's Interagency Working Group on Import Safety has published its Import Safety Action Plan (.pdf).

With an apparent emphasis on food safety, the Action Plan contains 14 broad recommendations and 50 action steps intended to protect Americans from being harmed by any of the more than $2 trillion in goods entering the U.S. marketplace through more than 825,000 importers annually.

The plan recommends basic changes to the federal government's long-standing policy of inspecting imported goods only as they enter the United States. Emphasis will now shift to ensuring the safety of imported products before they are shipped. High-risk products would require safety inspection and certification while still in the country of origin. In addition, foreign manufacturers that bypass pre-shipment certification and ship faulty or dangerous goods into the U.S. can be fined and slapped with trade restrictions.

As one of the lead agencies tagged to enforce the new import safety plan, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is empowered with new authority to impose mandatory, immediate recalls of tainted or suspect imported food products.

In reaction to the new safety regulations, Wang Baodong, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington told the New York Times that the Chinese government would only support laws that protected consumers without needlessly restricting trade. "Any measures by any foreign countries should be conducive to safeguarding the interests of consumers," Mr. Wang told the Times, adding that those measures should not "constitute obstacles or be used as protectionist excuses to impede the normal conduct of trade relations."

Also See:
US Seeks Anti-Piracy and Counterfeiting Trade Agreement
U.S. Reports Record Exports in 2006
Are Free Trade Agreements Good for the U.S.? (Liberal Polititcs)
U.S. Trade Deficit Explained and Examined (US Economy)